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Hammersmith and Fulham Council (202329196)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202329196

Hammersmith and Fulham Council

6 February 2025

 

Our approach

The Housing Ombudsman’s approach to investigating and determining complaints is to decide what is fair in all the circumstances of the case. This is set out in the Housing Act 1996 and the Housing Ombudsman Scheme (the Scheme). The Ombudsman considers the evidence and looks to see if there has been any ‘maladministration’, for example, whether the landlord has failed to keep to the law, followed proper procedure, followed good practice, or behaved in a reasonable and competent manner.

Both the resident and the landlord have submitted information to the Ombudsman, and this has been carefully considered. Their accounts of what has happened are summarised below. This report is not an exhaustive description of all the events that have occurred in relation to this case, but an outline of the key issues as a background to the investigation’s findings.

The complaint

  1. The complaint is about repairs to the banister at the resident’s property.

Background

  1. The resident holds a secure tenancy with the landlord. The resident lives in the property with her children.
  2. On 4 January 2023, the resident reported to the landlord that the banister at the top of her stairs was cracked. The landlord made an appointment for 19 January 2023 to repair the banister, however this appointment was cancelled. On 26 January 2023 the landlord’s contractors repaired a spindle, filled and covered over cracks and sanded down the banister. The contractor recommended to the landlord that it replace the banister.
  3. On 12 May 2023, the resident reported that a further repair was needed to the banister. On 13 June 2023, the landlord’s contractor repaired loose spindles and fixed a diagonal brace to the handrail of the banister, to reinforce it.
  4. The landlord’s contractors carried out further repairs to the banister on 19 July 2023. However, the landlord’s records show that the job to replace the banister was closed in error on 24 July 2023. On 23 August 2023, the landlord re-raised the works to replace the banister.
  5. The resident submitted a complaint to the landlord on 12 September 2023. She said the banister was still cracked. The landlord’s contractors had told her that the banister needed to be replaced. In July 2023 a contractor attended with some parts but left to make a call and did not return. In September 2023, a contractor booked for a morning appointment turned up at 3pm and told her they could not repair the banister. She said one of her children was very young and her other child had special needs. The fact that the banister was not secure, was a health and safety issue.
  6. On 14 September 2023, the resident told the landlord that 4 different contractors had inspected the banister and had recommended that it needed replacing but this had not happened. Contractors had missed appointments or had shown up late. A contractor had left a large bag of materials behind on her stairs which was dangerous for her children.
  7. The landlord issued a stage 1 complaint response on 15 September 2023.It accepted that there had been delays which could have been avoided. It said it had booked a new appointment for 5 October 2023. It offered the resident £200 compensation broken down as follows: £50 for the cancelled appointment on 19 January 2023, £50 for the works not being completed on 19 July 2023, £50 for the delays and £50 for the inconvenience and concern caused to the resident.
  8. On 5 October 2023, the resident complained to the landlord over the phone. She said the contractor who attended that day had told her they needed to get parts but did not return. She said she had called the landlord, but it was not able to let her know what was happening.
  9. The resident complained again on 11 October 2023. She said she had tried to escalate her complaint, but the landlord had said she would need to submit a new complaint. She had not received the compensation the landlord had offered her. She said that a bag of wooden spindles had been left on the stairs since July 2023.
  10. On 25 October 2023, the landlord issued a stage 1 complaint response. It apologised that the repair was still outstanding and that the resident had not received the compensation it had offered her. It said it had now processed the payment. It said its contractor was unable to obtain the materials they needed on 5 October 2023, and had assumed that the landlord would reschedule the appointment. It apologised for this miscommunication. It said it was unfortunate that it had told the resident that she could not escalate her complaint. It acknowledged the urgency of the repair given that there was a vulnerable child in the property. Its contractor had provided a photo showing the bag of spindles had been left in the corner of the stairwell and had said the spindles did not belong to them. It had booked a new appointment for 7 November 2023. It offered the resident further compensation of £175 broken down as follows: £50 for its contractors not completing the work on 5 October 2023, £50 for the continued delay to the repair, £50 for the inconvenience caused to the resident and £25 for the delay in it paying her the previous compensation.
  11. The resident escalated her complaint on 25 October 2023. She said the landlord had implied that she was lying about the bag of spindles on the stairs. She reiterated these had been left behind by the contractor. She wanted an apology and the landlord to remove the bag immediately.
  12. On 3 November 2023, the landlord issued its stage 2 complaint response. It said the contractors’ photos showed that the bag of spindles now appeared to be in the stairwell, and therefore the bag did not currently pose a hazard, however the contractor should have cleared all materials when they left the property. It apologised for this and offered the resident a further £150 compensation.
  13. The contractor was not able to gain access to the resident’s property on 7 November 2023. The contractor provided a photograph of the front door of the resident’s property on the date of the appointment and records show it called the landlord to advise it was unable to gain access.
  14. On 21 November 2023, the resident complained to the Ombudsman. She said that the repair to the banister was still outstanding. The contractor had not attended an appointment booked for 9 November 2023. She said the landlord had booked a new appointment for 17 November 2023; however, the contractor had not ordered any parts, so no work took place.
  15. The landlord’s contractors replaced the banister on 4 and 5 December 2023. On 29 December 2023, the resident asked the landlord when it would finish the decoration of the banister as this was not fully complete. She said that during the replacement of the banister the contractors had damaged the wall and lifted the carpet and asked the landlord to remedy these issues.
  16. The landlord’s contractors completed the decoration of the banister on 11 January 2024. On 23 February 2024 it refixed the carpet. On 5 March 2024, the landlord post-inspected the work and found it to have been completed to a good standard.

Assessment

Policies and procedures

  1. Under the resident’s tenancy agreement, the landlord is responsible for repairs to the structure and exterior of the property. This includes fittings such as banisters.
  2. The landlord’s repairs policy states it will attend to emergency repairs within 24 hours to make the issue safe. Its policy states that it will complete routine repairs within 20 working days.
  3. The landlord’s complaints process has 2 stages. It states it will respond to stage 1 complaints within 10 working days and stage 2 complaints within 20 working days. Its policy states that residents should escalate stage 1 complaints to stage 2 of its procedure within 20 working days of receiving the landlord’s stage 1 complaint response.

The landlord’s handling of repairs to the banister

  1. As noted above, the resident reported on 4 January 2023 that the banister at the top of the stairs was cracked. The landlord made an appointment to inspect the issue on 19 January 2023 but cancelled this appointment and rearranged it for 26 January 2023. Given that the resident reported that the crack to the banister was at the top of the stairs, the landlord should have inspected the issue within 24 hours of receiving the resident’s report to ensure that there were no safety issues. This was a failing, as there was a potential risk to health and safety particularly as there were children living in the property.
  2. The landlord’s records of January 2023 show that its contractors carried out repairs to the banister, however they also recommended that the entire banister needed replacing. There is no evidence that the landlord took any action in relation to this recommendation at that stage. This was unreasonable. Where its staff or its contractors make recommendations, the Ombudsman would expect to see evidence that the landlord considered these and if it decided not to carry out these recommendations, what the reasons for this were.
  3. On 12 May 2023, the resident reported that the banister was cracked again. On 13 June 2023, its contractor fixed the banister back into place. This was reasonable, however, as above, the landlord should have inspected the issue within 24 hours and there is no evidence that it did so. The contractor again recommended that the landlord replace the entire banister.
  4. The landlord’s contractor attended again on 19 July 2023. However, after this visit, the job to replace the banister was closed in error. The landlord’s records indicate it reraised the works for the replacement of the banister on 23 August 2023, however there is no evidence to show that it contacted the resident to update her until she submitted a stage 1 complaint on 12 September 2023. This delay was unreasonable and may have made the resident feel that the landlord was not taking any action to replace the banister.
  5. The landlord acted appropriately in its stage 1 complaint response of 15 September 2023, in apologising for the delays in it replacing the banister and offering the resident £200 compensation for the inconvenience this had caused.
  6. The resident tried to escalate her complaint on 5 October 2023 after the landlord’s contractor attended her property that day but had left without carrying out any work. The landlord informed the resident she would need to submit a new complaint. This was not in line with its complaint policy, set out above, which states that residents have 20 working days from the date they receive the landlord’s stage 1 complaint response to escalate their complaint. The resident was therefore delayed in progressing her complaint to the next stage of the landlord’s complaint process, which will have likely caused her time, trouble, and inconvenience. It is recommended that the landlord carries-out staff training to ensure that it adheres to its complaints policy in relation to escalating complaints.
  7. In its stage 1 complaint response of 25 October 2023, the landlord said that its contractors had told it that the materials left behind at the resident’s property did not belong to them. However, the resident had made it clear that the bag contained banister spindles. Therefore, these will have been either old spindles that had been removed from the banister by the contractors or new spindles which needed fitting by the contractors. Other than speaking to its contractors, the landlord did not investigate this issue fully. It would have been reasonable for it to also speak to the resident in order to understand what had happened. It should also have arranged either for the material to be collected as soon as possible, or to be stored safely elsewhere if it was still needed. The landlord’s response to this issue was not helpful and may have made the resident feel it was not listening to her.
  8. In its complaint response of 25 October 2023, the landlord said its contractor had not been able to complete the replacement of the banister on 5 October 2023, as it had not been able to obtain the materials needed. This was unreasonable. The landlord’s contractors had attended the property on several previous occasions and had had numerous opportunities to take measurements and pre-order the necessary materials. Given the length of time the resident had been waiting for the banister to be replaced, the landlord should have ensured that the correct materials were ordered in advance to avoid any further delays. It is recommended that the landlord review its processes to ensure that its contractors obtain the necessary materials prior to booking appointments to carry out works.
  9. The landlord acted appropriately in apologising for the further delays to the replacement of the banister and for acknowledging that it had not paid the compensation it had offered previously in a timely manner. It was reasonable that it offered the resident further compensation of £175.
  10. In its stage 2 complaint response of 3 November 2023, the landlord told the resident it had reviewed photographs its contractors had taken to establish whether the bag of spindles represented a hazard. We do not doubt the resident’s word that the bag was initially left on the stairs. However, as these materials no longer appeared to be on the stairs but in the stairwell, it was reasonable for the landlord to conclude that the bag was no longer a safety issue at that stage. It was appropriate that the landlord acknowledged however, that its contractors should not have left the bag of spindles at the property and should have taken away any unused materials. It apologised that this had not happened. It agreed that its contractor would remove the bag of spindles from the property.
  11. It was appropriate that the landlord acknowledged that there had been further delays to the replacement of the banister and offered the resident a further £150 compensation. It also acted appropriately in saying that it had learnt from the resident’s complaint and that it had implemented regular meetings with its contractors to ensure it monitored outstanding repairs.
  12. The landlord has told the Ombudsman that its contractors attended the appointment arranged for 7 November 2023, however it was unable to gain access. Its contractors have provided a photo of the resident’s front door taken on that date and there are notes showing that the contractors called the landlord on the date of the appointment to advise that they had not been able to access the property. We are satisfied therefore that the contractor attended the property in an attempt to carry out works on that date. The landlord booked a further appointment for 17 November 2023; however, no work was carried out as again the correct parts had not been ordered.
  13. The resident reported on 12 May 2023 that the cracks to the banister had reappeared. The contractors replaced the banister on 4 and 5 December 2023. This was almost 4 months outside of the landlord’s timescales for completing routine repairs. The resident reported on 29 December 2023, that the wall had been damaged and that the carpet had been lifted during the replacement of the banister. The landlord remedied these issues on 23 February 2024, 2 weeks outside of its timescales for completing routine repairs. These delays were unreasonable and will have caused the resident time, trouble and inconvenience.
  14. The landlord has offered the resident a total of £525 compensation. This is in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance, published on our website, which states that £100-£600 compensation should be considered where maladministration has been identified. Therefore, the landlord has made an appropriate offer and does not need to do anything further in this regard.

Determination (decision)

  1. In accordance with paragraph 53.b. of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the landlord has made an offer of redress prior to investigation which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, resolves the complaint about its handling of the repairs to the banister at the resident’s property satisfactorily.

Recommendations

  1. It is recommended that the landlord:
    1. Carries out staff training to ensure that it adheres to its complaints policy in relation to escalating complaints.
    2. Reviews its processes to ensure that its contractors obtain the necessary materials prior to booking appointments to carry-out works.